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Hufflepuff Gets No Respect

Last night I consulted the oracle commonly referred to as Myers Briggs. I filled out quite a detailed quiz about my preferences and the result given was–horror of horrors–ISFJ. Hallmarks include kindness, gentleness, loyalty, dependability, hard worker, organized, blah blah blah, fan of the status quo. Not visionary, artist, or boundary tester. A personality defined mostly by its relationship to other, more interesting personalities. I’ve essentially been sorted into Hufflepuff house. Everyone knows Hufflepuff gets no respect.

Often when my mind is in a wandering mood I prefer to take the lonely, pockmarked backroads into town. My route takes me past pastures brimming with hardy Texas cattle and wildflowers, winding behind the cemetery and past a gravestone emblazoned on its back, simply and beautifully, “kind and loyal.” I have always thought that if ever I leave a mark on this life, I would love to leave that one. These bones were kind, and these bones were loyal.

At my UT undergraduate graduation we heard the dean of the school of information speak to the recipients of Master’s degrees in library science. I don’t remember the particulars of what he said, but the gist was that the librarians will basically serve those from all of the other more prestigious schools, but “they had better say please.” How’s that for ambition?

I would like to live a humble, meaningful, gracious life of service. It sounds poetic, but such a life is built upon the back-breaking labor of continually choosing someone else over yourself. I guess it’s okay to live courageously amid what seems to be unambitious mediocrity. And thankfully there are lots of opportunities to practice, fail and try again.

Hufflepuff crest bears the image of a badger. Badgers are short of stature but tough and persistent as heck. That seems okay to me.